Garcetti appoints Councilwoman Raman to highly effective air high quality regulatory board – Every day Information

Signaling a potential turnabout in the city’s role in regulating air quality, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Tuesday, Feb. 1, appointed Councilwoman Nithya Raman to the governing board of the regional agency that sets key regulation affecting the Southern California region’s air quality and polluting industries.

Raman would replace Councilman Joe Buscaino, who had served on the on the governing board of South Coast Air Quality Management District since 2013.

The news was cheered by some community groups and environmental advocates — including ones that specifically champion justice for communities whose needs they contend are overlooked in favor of the interests of polluting industries — as a major shift in the role the city would take on the board.

“This is a good day for those of us living in the smoggiest air basin in the country,” said Chris Chavez, deputy policy director for the Coalition for Clean Air.

“Millions of Southern Californians, especially those in marginalized communities, breathe air that fails to meet national and state air quality standards,” he said.

And yet, any effort to urge the board “to pass even the most basic air pollution protections often becomes a years-long arduous fight,” he said.

The group was among nearly two dozen groups that signed onto a Jan. 28 letter to Garcetti urging for Raman’s appointment.

Mayor Eric Garcetti has appointed LA Council Member Nithya Raman to a four-year term on the @SouthCoastAQMD, to replace CM Joe Buscaino. Advocates sent a letter to Garcetti a few days ago, calling for Raman’s appointment. pic.twitter.com/vJyQQxP8I0

— Elizabeth Chou 🌊 🏖️ ☀️ 🌆 ⛰️ (@reporterliz) February 1, 2022

The news of Raman’s appointment was “a hopeful sign that the city of Los Angeles understands the scale of our region’s air pollution problems and is ready to get serious about meaningful policies to improve our air quality,” said Adrian Martinez, senior attorney for Earthjustice, another of that signed the letter.

“We’re looking forward to working with Councilmember Raman on new rules that mandate polluters clean up their act and invest in non-polluting zero emission equipment,” he said.

Raman represents the 4th council district, which spans over the Santa Monica mountains and connects neighborhoods in the San Fernando Valley to those in the Los Angeles basin. It includes Encino, Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Van Nuys, Reseda, Silver Lake and Los Feliz.

She responded to the news on social media, saying she was grateful to the mayor and the “powerhouse coalition of environmental orgs who supported my nomination.”

“Many of them work with the LA communities most intensely impacted by air pollution,” she said. “I look forward to working alongside them to make change.”

Buscaino, who is running for mayor, represents the 15th council district residents in the South Bay who live near multiple sources of pollution, including oil refineries and the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. His latest term on the air quality board ended Jan 15.

Buscaino said that it was “an honor” to be LA’s representative on the board over the last nine years.

“As my time on the LA City Council comes to an end, it is necessary that a new appointee take my place, but I look forward to watching our progress continue to make our region greener and healthier and to create the first zero-emissions port in the US,” he said.

Critics of Buscaino’s tenure, meanwhile, have argued he backed weaker regulation championed by the petroleum industry instead of supporting regulation with real teeth, including those that would move regulatory efforts that rely on voluntary agreements.

Buscaino was also supportive of an ineffective cap-and-trade style program, called RECLAIM, that was favored by the oil industry, that set up a slower path toward reducing emissions from refineries, they said.

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